Yumi's story
by YumiAkuei
Summary: A story of a girl in the Naruto world as she goes through a tough life and tries to survive through a mixture of bravery, skill, brains, friends, and luck. Plus a little unseen help alng the way. Find out when her friends figure out her secrets. T - in c
1. Out of Ice and into the Fire

She was slowly wandering through a small wood in the middle of no where. Her thoughts were about as lost as she was, traveling from her location, to her dreams, then to her past. There they stopped and pondered for a while. The young child unconsciously started to cry as she went through the all of her past, wondering what it would have been like if only…

back flash

She had lost all control. A deep hatred rose within her and she couldn't stop it. She attacked him with as much mercy as he had ever shown her, none what-so-ever. After she had calmed down, the girl ran. She ran as far and as fast as she could each day for weeks. She knew that she could never return, ever.

end flash back

Since she traveled mostly at night, her hearing and eye sight became unnaturally good, her daily needed amount of food decreased, her body became very flexible and quick to respond. She learned to trust no one and kill those who knew too much. The girl cared for no one else.

Realizing the time, she quickly got up and started off again. She felt unfathomable threats on the verge of awakening. The girl knew not what they were, but she really didn't want to know. The night was so cold and chilling, she felt like she was in the middle of the arctic. Yumi found a dense part of the forest that shielded her well enough from the rain.

The next morning, she awoke, with a little dread. She knew this day would somehow be different from any of the other days and to make things worse, there were unusually dark grey clouds above you that stretch from east to west, north to south, as far as the eye could see.

The sun had just appeared from behind the thick clouds for the first time today. 'Finally,' she thought. She looked right and left looking for something of interest, but, as usual, she found nothing.

She sighed. She was bored out of her mind. She had already practiced her jutsu and stuff, she had already meditated as you do every day. The day just seem to drag on and on. There was nothing better to do, so she started to look for another resting spot.

Yumi never usually spent more than one night, sometimes two, at one place. She didn't trust any sort of assurance of something or someplace safe. She just didn't have any kind or sort confidence in that word or anything to do with that word. She had learned that from previous experience.

Yumi soon came upon a village. She knew it to be what they called 'the village hidden in the sand'. She would occasionally go into a small town to get food and news, but she never stayed over night, since she did not trust herself. For some reason, though, she decided to stay for a while, check it out, may be getting a part time job for a while since she was running out of money or train for a while. She knew that just learning from what you had seen all those years ago were just not enough if you wanted to get somewhere and do something.

She had no idea what made her come to that decision, but when she made up her mind, it was very hard to change it.

She knew that if she wanted to stay here for a while, she had to find a temporary place to stay while she trained. Also that to find a place to stay, she had to get money and she was not about become the outcast of the village by stealing and begging was just below her.

So she started into the village, and began to look for the training grounds, a vacant room, and a place to work.

Before long, she found both a place to stay and had familiarized herself with the village, and had taken a look at the training areas, but she couldn't find a job anywhere!

'Well that's another thing for another day,' she said to herself as she watched the sun set.

Yumi awoke to a nice, large bedroom around her and sand blowing outside in the strong morning wind just beyond the rectangular window for the seventh time.

Getting up and dressed, she thought, I'm going to be here longer than I though.

It was true. Each day, she had begun to pack, but something just wouldn't let her leave. She had no idea that soon, in this village, she would change the lives of many.


	2. Opposites collide

The sun rose, bright orange and red in color. The orb in the sly seemed to stain the air around it, turning it form a pitch black to brilliant blues, greens, and purples with some odd color mix every here or there. Long shadows became shorter and shorter with each passing moment, each becoming more distinct and separated from the rest.

The new light fell onto a girl, hardly 12 years of age, walking through the village, thoughts racing through her head.

Non one seemed to be awake , so the little girl got a shock when she saw a silhouette of someone turning onto the same street as she and was heading towards her. Once she got close enough she got a chance to make out the person's features.

I know everyone in this village, she thought, but I have never seen her before!

The other girl seemed 6 years younger than her, but yet she looked rugged, as though, the face of death had been shown to her many times before.

The girl had a malevolent like look about her; mysterious, strong, smart, lonely, avenger, watchful, serious, mature, and such, all squished into her spiteful personality. Her really long, black hear was whipping behind her in the strong wind.

The small, black eyes looked around her in innocent curiosity. She had strong, long legs, built for running and keeping balance. Her arms hung straight at her sides, muscles showing. Her clothes were of nothing she had seen before. She wore black sandals that came just above her ankles, which came far from reaching her tight, black Bermuda-like shorts. Her shirt was also black with one short sleeve and one sleeve that was just above her elbow with a hole around the shoulder. The shirt came about 1 inch above her shorts, slightly showing her waist. This girl was one of the skinniest people the 12-year old had ever seen.

It took a little bit before she noticed the head band around her right upper arm, the silver attached to the red cloth; it surprised her that she had one. She thought that she knew all of the villages, but obviously not, for she had never seen this symbol in her life.

While she was looking the girl over, the other girl had stopped to gaze at the sky, probably to determine the weather for the day, just beyond the boarder of a shadow, her tanned skin glowing in the warm, orange sun. The 12-year old had stopped, too.

The stranger suddenly looked straight into her eyes; a piercing stare coming from the empty, blank eyes.

'I'm Hitsugi. Kichigai Hitsugi.' The oldest of the pair took a step forwards, muscles tense as she stared back. Hitomi smiled sweetly trying to break through her shell, but it didn't seem to work.

The girl just blinked, letting her know that she had heard.

'And your name is?' Hitsugi asked trying to start a friendly conversation.

'Akuei Yumi.' She seemed to be doing her best to be emotionless and seperate. She noticed that her face seemed to miss that normal glow, as though she hadn't smiled in years.

- Akuei Yumi, AKUEI YUMI! Where have I heard that name before?! - Hisugi thought as she stated, 'I've never seen you around. Are you new here?'

'Hai.'

'What village are you from?'

'The village hidden in the shadows.'

'I'm from the leaf village. I have never heard of your village'

'No one outside of the village has.'

'Interesting.' Hitsugi was running out of things to say and was beginning to get suspicious about where this person had really come from.

An uncomfortable silence fell as Yumi looked this 'Hitsugii' over.

She had a weird, happy look about her. It was obvious that fortune had been good to her. Yumi could tell what she was like; happy, loved, caring, and such. Sugar, spice, and everything nice…

Her outfit was fancier than most but still casual and comfortable looking. She, of course, had the normal shoes along with matching blue, finger-less gloves with metal plates on the back. She also had black leggings. She had a weapon holder, the same blue as her gloves and shoes around her right leg encircling a read part of the leggings. Her dress was black, but it had a fire pattern reaching up the dress with a black ring around the bottom. The straps of it were red. The rest of the sleeves were cut off except for a small piece that held it to the dress and came 2 inches passed her elbow. It had red along the edge as the shorts did. She had a head band around her neck, the ninja head band of the leaf village.

Her short, light brown hair came down just passed her shoulders, covering part of one of her big, green eyes.

The uncomfortable silence was broken by a middle aged set of twins, one with short, brown hair, the other with short, blonde hair.

'Konichiwa, Hiru-sensei; Remon-sensei.' Hitsugi said to the two. 'Oh, Yumi, this is Hiru and Remon Nokorimono, my sensei's at the academy.

'Is there a problem here, ladies?' the blonde twin said; the one called Hiru. Both he and his brother looked Yumi up and down, calculating her strength and stamina and the like.

'No problem here,' Yumi retorted her eyes full of the detest and dislike that she felt for every sensei before turning and disappearing back into the shadows that she had come out of.


	3. The class of Suna

Sorry it took me so long to finish this, but making up names for me is HARD!! I'm so glad I found fitting names and just plain finished it already. Now I can post like 2 chapters really quickly since they're like only one paragraph short of being finished. yayayayayay!!

All the names are in Japanese style, last name first.

Tell what you thing and if I need to fix or change something. If you have any better names, send those too! Well... enjoy!

* * *

-I swear! If that old man drags me to this school ONE MORE TIME…!- Yumi thought as she walked to an empty seat, her face not showing the dislike

for everyone there that she had.

It was true. About 4 days ago, an old man had seen her walking in the street and asked her why she wasn't in school. She had told him that she was not from this village so that there was no reason to attend the actual lessons. She, of course, left out that she had already graduated from her own village's academy. He and his "old ways" thought that no matter what, ALL children should be in school. So, he walked her to the academy for her to "learn more than she knew now". -As if that's possible in a cruddy place like school...- she thought as she unwillingly followed him to the academy. The next day, he found her "randomly" and did the same thing. Along with the day after that and the day after that and so on.

'Yumi! Welcome!' came a voice from the front. There stood Hiru holding a scroll. 'You came just in time! I was just about to explain the first part of the exams.'

Yumi just rolled her eyes and said under breath, 'Oh, lucky me!' before sitting down in the very back, empty, middle desk and resting her chin on her palm as she looked around the room with a bored look.

The 18 students there were between 10 and 13, except for Hitsugi, whom was, as I told you, only 8 and this other girl whom was also 8. This class was the one that would be graduating soon and apparently she would have to participate in the graduation exams … again.

As Hiru droned on and on about boring stuff, Yumi's eyes wandering around the room.

Hitsugi was sitting two desks in front of her next to a blonde named Mirasaki Kitsune, the other 8-year old in the class. Yumi had no idea how that girl could be this young and about to graduate with her kind of "smarts", it dumb-founded her. She could tell that she was rich and spoiled, people doing the thinking for her. She was a total tree-huger. Yes, Yumi liked nature and all that, but never in her life had she actually HUGGED a tree. She had seen that blonde actually hug a tree for no reason during one of their breaks.

Her huge, green eyes looked back at her. Yumi glared back into them which made her turn back around in a flash. She was never a really big fan of blondes and this girl was a blonde right down to the heart.

Yumi knew most of the students in the class, like Himoroto Kurasa, a red headed 11- year old girl sitting next to her to brunette friends, Yunuroma Satari and Satige Myara, both 12. All three of their families were wealthy and spoiled their daughters with anything and everything they wanted. They were all preps and only came to the academy for one reason, because their parents were PAYING them to go. They always expected the rest of their classmates to follow their every order, but with Yumi now around, that's all going to change.

Then there were the twins; Sileyodoku Tuneiyo and Madeiyo. One had long, curly, light brown hair with green eyes and the other long, currly, dark

brown with purple eyes and they were both 12. Their outfits usually matched and they were never seen apart. Yumi thought that they were obnoxiously loud and energetic, but apparently everyone else liked them. Their parents weren't rich nor poor, but they were happy none the less. Yumi just ignored them.

On the other side of the class were the best friends. They, also, were never seen apart. One had short dirty blond hair and blue eyes and was 11. Her name was Kirano Nahirodu. She loved music and could play several different instruments. Her bff was Tsohiyeru Shizuki; a tall girl the age of 11 with even shorter green hair and hazel eyes. She, too, loved music, but especially when you could dance to it. Her hobby was dancing and she was pretty good at it.

Then there's also the 8 guys.

The first boy that she had met had blonde, shoulder-length hair, light blue eyes, and usually carried a bow staff with him. Oparu Shikimo was his name and he was really cocky about his fighting. Yumi was going to show him what a real fight looked like if he didn't shut the crap up.

There was also Omamari Sakebi, a tall guy with short brown haired with dark blue eyes who's family was rich and could afford practically everything. His brother was also in the same class. His name was Omamari Nibori. Nibori had Just a tad bit longer hair with the same deep blue eyes as his brother.

Kobayashi Seiko, Gakusha Makoto, and Mizutani Hiroshi all loved sports and cared nothing for their studies. Seiko had blonde, short hair that slightly spiked. He, along with Hiroshi, had brown eyes, but his were more hazelnut then Hiroshi; who had shoulder-length, brown hair. Makoto also had brown hair that was short and kind of stiff. His eyes, unlike his best friends, were and odd color of blue. Everyday after school or during the weekends, you could find them outside somewhere playing any sport imaginable. If you named a sport, not only did they know how to play it, but they also could beat you severely at it. Though it wasn't usually litteral unless you were playing tackle football or dodgeball. The others were just figuratively (thankgoodness).

Mori Yutaka and his brother Mori Kiyoshi were almost complete opposites. Yutaka was always happy and hyper one, the guy who was cheery no matter what. His brother, Kiyoshi, was silent and kind of emo, though Yumi doubted that he had any real reason to be emo other trying to look cool. He could pull the look off well. Kiyoshi was good with a katana; Yumi wanted to spar him.

After around an hour of droning over rules that were indifferent to Yumi (who was trying to entertain herself by thinking of the hilarious and weak jutsu some of the people in the class must have), the class was finally let out.

Yumi like always, was the last one out of the classroom; the teachers watched her warily as she passed them. Yumi hid her smirk as she thought –I think I've grown on them…-

* * *

I should have the next chapter up and running in a few days. Thanks for reading! Please review! Pweeeaaassssse? I... wuv... u... (hard to beat) (if you didn't know... that was from a comercial)


	4. The battle of the Kunoichi

I told you I would have the next chapter up alot faster than I did that last one! HA!

I'm not going through the whole 'typing out every single battle that happens in the pre-battles' game. If you're wondering what I mean about prebattles, you'll have to read, but you won't have to read very far... heh...

I love this chapter and it took me forever to finish; I been working on it for a long time now. I work ahead alot... PLEASE tell me what you think! I worked really hard on it! which you will figure out as you begin to read... I hope...

* * *

'So we are going to have the exams here?' asked someone in the mob of kids that sat at their desks in the large, roomy classroom.

'No, we're not,' stated the older sensei, Remon, as Miru, his twin brother, sighed, then continued where his brother had left off.

'Of course we're not having the exams here! These pairing are for pre-battles to prep you so you know what one of the stages of the graduating exams are like. That way you get an idea what you're up against. A couple of people looked back at Yumi where she sat behind everyone else, surrounded by empty desks. Yumi, though, was staring at the sensei in front of them all with a blank-faced expression. She of course noticed and smirked mentally at their fear.

'Do you already know who's up against who?' asked Shizuki.

'Yes, and we will post them after class today.' Everyone looked excited. 'Or, we could post them now!' excalimed Remon as Miru turned back to the class after having put something on the board. 'SIT!' Remon-sensei shouted as practicallu everyone moved as one up and out of their seats and was about to sprint to be the first one to the board. 'I will read them aloud in the order that they will take place.' Everyone was quite still and the room had a kind of eiry silence that Yumi prefered to the shouts of the class and random scarps of chairs or taps on desks as usual.

But it didn't last very long; Miru stated, 'First to spar will be Yunuroma Satari and Kirano Nahirodu. Then, Kobayashi Seiko vs. Mori Yutaka.' He rambled on and on, a couple of the fights Yumi already deemed won. Very few she was interested to watch. Well, to be exact, there was only one that she wanted to really see; the bragging Oparu Shikimo against non other than... Kitsune Mirasaki! Yumi really wanted to see what that nature-girl could really do. Yumi could have almost fallen asleep with the rest of the pairings, well until she heard the names of the last sparing match;

People all aroudn the room gasped, whipped their heads in their direction, sputtered, gapped, lept out of their chairs, and anything else a cunfunded person would do at the names in the pairing. Yumi just couldn't wait...

* * *

'Now for the last two! Hitsugi, Yumi, please step forwards.'

Everyone was silent and still as they watched then come to the center of the room with completely blank faces (which was odd for Hitsugi) and stop about 6 feet apart. You could just see the sensei thinking, -This should be interesting,- before exclaiming 'BEGIN' as he backs away from them to the wall.

No one moved; Yumi stared at Hitsugi and vise versa. A cough come from somewhere in the crowd. You could tell that the crowd was more tense than either Hitsugi or Yumi as they waited impatiently for one of them to attack, or even move. 'I already said "begin"!' came a shout from the crowd around them.

'Byakugan!' The shout can suddenly and it made everyone jump. Well, all but Yumi.

She just stared at Hitsugi as though nothing had happened, but in her head she was quickly trying to figure this out.

-Byakugon?! She doesn't have the eyes for it! How can she…wait…I've heard the name Kichigai before. Kichigai, Kichigai… I got it! The Kichigai clan have this certain kekkei Genkai. Oh, what was it? Right! They can copy any Kekkei Genkai out there, but they slowly start to die while using it! Plus, it takes up a whold lot of chakra. Okay, then. Well, I think I'll just start off small…- Yumi watched her opponent for any sign of another jutsu, but she found none. So, she just stared into the now large, white eyes with vein like line flowing to them.

'Well, I guess it's my turn! Art of the Dopple Ganger!' There was a pouf of smoke large enough that it filled the whole arena and covered the spectators. When the people could finally see, there were more than two people that they had last seen in the field, too many to count actually.

'Your turn.' Yumi sounded as though she was just talking about a simple board game or something.

'Ha!' Hitsugi laughed before doing Hakke Shou Kaiten or Heavenly spin; her becoming a blur as she spun around and around emitting chakra from her hand. A red sphere grew around her, then she did something uncommon with it. Yumi watched as she brought her hands inward then thrusting them out, sending the orb to kill all of the copies. After the smoke had cleared up once more, no one was there

'Why don't you make use of that copy of the _real_ byakugan and fight?!' Came a voice in one corner of the grounds, as Yumi stepped out of a shadow.

–So the Yumi I had been fighting in the beginning was a clone. This may be harder than I thought- Hitsugi thought. –I should make sure that this one's not a clone either…- She through a shuriken right as her stomach. To her surprise, Yumi didn't even try to dodge it, she just lazily blocked it with her arm. The shuriken hit her arm, but she neither flinched nor disappeared.

'Happy now?' Yumi asked with a raised eyebrow as she raised the wounded arm, showing no emotion of pain. 'I'm no clone, but soon you'll wish I was.' In a flash, she was in a fighting stance, ready for a Hyuuga 'gentle fist' fight.

'If you say so…'

They exploded into a battle you would only expect to see from the Hyuuga clan. It lasted for many long minutes, them stabbing and blocking, each trying to pierce the other's defenses though neither win nor loosing.

All of a sudden, they were thrown apart as a blast went off. They both hit the wall, opposite each other. They were breathing hard, sweat glittering on both of their faces.

Yumi drew out her katana, but something suspicious was going on. There seemed to be a haze growing between Hitsugi and Yumi, though very light and see-through, and Hitsugi began to be wary of the kind of jutsu Yumi had up her sleeve.

'Fire element; phoenix jutsu!' came the cry from the left side of the field, Hitsugi's side. A phoenix materialized in front of Hitomi flying straight at Yumi. It speeding with such force that it might have killed her if it hadn't suddenly stopped as though it had flow head first into a wall, then disappeared. An instant after the bird had vanished, the mist or whatever it was followed suit. 'A wind wall? I didn't know there was such a thing!'

'You don't know a lot of things,' Yumi said in retort, her expression still blank and empty. 'Fire jutsu; Fire sword!' The katana in her hand was suddenly alight with a blazing flame.

'Lightning blade!' The shout echoed from the opposite side of the plane. They came at each other again, the same as they did with the gentle fists. Soon, Hitsugi could not keep up her blade and had to resort to dodging Yumi's.

'I know I have not seen many of these jutsu, but they haven't used a single hand sign yet!' Remon said to his brother, Hiru. Their attention was suddenly draw back to the two as they heard a yell.

'Rasangon!' Yumi suddenly had a black orb of chakra spinning in her hands, Hitsugi going into a fighting stance. Not even a second later, Yumi had hit Hitsugi with the chakra sending her flying. In midair, she was engulfed by smoke. When it had cleared (once more), a human-sized, blood red rose left in her place.

Yumi had only heard about this jutsu, but had never had the opportunity to compete against it. As she thought that this was going to be very "interesting", she jumped high into the air, made the dog seal, crossed her arms in front of her, and threw her hands down to the dirt below her. For a second, the people in the audience could see the wind as it rushed to the ground leaving almost-instantaneously-vanishing streaks in its wake.

Hitsugi was engulfed in dust and dirt as it flew into the air from the force of the impact. Suddenly, the powder cleared and Hitsugi jumped up and looked around. Yumi wasn't there. Yes, she was… Hitsugi would sense her in the area, but where?

Suddenly, a voice echoed from all directions as Yumi spoke, 'I guessing you have THAT kekkei genkai? Very interesting.'

Then she got an idea that Yumi could not hide from. She made a single hand sign then slammed her palms into the ground. There formed a small red sign made of chakra. Once again, a poof of smoke and there appeared 3 dogs. 'Go Fetch!' (haha... go fetch... go fish... get it? dumb I know... oh well! -) The dogs ran of in different directions, just to come back seconds later tail-end first. (in other words, they are backing up)

Then the voice cam again, 'I have power over dogs that no one else does! They won't attack me! FIRE ELEMENT; FLAME DRAGON JUTSU!' Then, a huge orange spiral began to form in the sky, growing larger and larger every second. In the middle of the dragon was Yumi falling many feet/second. The draogn looped under her and came straight for Hitsugi. She barely dodged it.

She activated Sharingon as though it was from habit. As she looked over with her red eyes at Yumi, who had just landed lightly on her toes, she nticed that Yumi's face was still emotionless. -What the crap is wrong with her?! How could she have landed so lightly after that big of a fall? She hardly unsettled DUST!- She snapped out of her thoughts as she saw water begining to materialize above Yumi, and a whole lot of it...

'Water element; water dragn jutsu!' The words were formed from Yumi's mouth.

'Summoning jutsu!' Poof! A huge frog, no toad, appeared out of nowhere. He took the blow easily, since Yumi had ment it for someone around 1/100 of his size.

Yumi began to get curious. -Is this the famous Gamabunta?- she thought. -No time for that now. It's about time I start to play rough!- With that, she made the tiger seal and said, 'Elemental Dragon Amalgamation Jutsu!' Hitsugi was taken back; she had never heard of this jutsu before. 'Water!' A water dragon formed. 'Earth!' An earth dragon mutated from the ground. 'Fire!' Another fire dragon circled down to join the group. 'WIND!' A haze began to form once more as a form just like the others began to take shape. It was see-through, and one had to be careful not to over look it. Yumi then thrust her hands forward directly at Hitsugi. Together, the dragons encircled each other and spun at the opponent.

The toad took full force of it and he disappeared, the same as the dragons had.

When the smoke faded (once more...), Hitsugi had already made her move. 'Fire element; Rain of fire!' Yumi jerked her head sky ward just in time to see dropped of fire beginning to fall and calculate her options.

'Ice element; Black dragon blizzard.' That was probably the first time that it had ever snowed in Suna. And also probably the last.

With the fire gone and the snow already melted, Hitsugi desided on a close-combat jutsu. With her palm one inch away from Yumi's stomach, she cried, 'Chuusuusei Biribiri!' (Central Nervous System Electrical Shock). She smirked as she hit something solid. She flipped backwards to see the total damage she had inflicted on...

'A dirt wall?!'

'Earth style; earth wall jutsu.' Yumi stated matter-of-factly, still refusing to show any emotion.

'Fine! I'll play dirty! Cuteness jutsu!' Then her expressin changed; a sad look of pleading was instantly there. People's eyes widened as they saw Yumi's eyes start to twitch then water. Somewhere in the crowd, Hitsugi's father asked her mother, 'Why'd you teach her that?'

'Makazuki no Mai! Dance of the cresent Moon!' Yumi brought out her katana again then swiped at Hitsugi, cutting her arm.

Hitsugi took out plenty of kunai and shuriken, including a couple fuuma shuriken, then threw them at Yumi with speed and precise aim.

'Hakke Shou Kaiten!' came Yumi who had already begun to spin, a black sphere forming around her. All of the thrown obects were deflected and thrown into the mass around them. Screams and angry shouts could be heard as people knocked people over in order to get out of the way of the racing weapons.

-Some sense of humer she has...- Hitsugi thought, not daring to look away for a second to see if anyone was hurt. 'You're sick, you know that? Why the hell would you just throw them at other people not in this?! Feeling incompetent?

'Ha! Is that all you can do?' Yumi said laughing at the wimpy attempt of Hitsugi to make her mad. 'I wonder what you would do if I stated that Hatake Kakashi had buck teeth and blimp lips?!'

The look on Hitsugi's face was so… so… Well, actually there are no other words to describe it except SCARY! A low growl echoed through the air, making it vibrate with anger and rage.

The sensei, understanding that it could only go south from there and that this match was not going to end well if not stopped right away, for either Yumi or Hitsugi if they continued, rushed over to them; a few teachers went to talk to Hitsugi, the rest hurrying to calm down this 'Yumi'. Well, their idea of calming down Yumi was more like restraining.

The calming part of the plan didn't work as well with Yumi. As soon as one of them grabbed her arm, her face was suddenly hidden behind a black swirl. The hair soon came to rest around a furious face, her eyes having such a harsh stare that the Jonin leapt back in surprise and fear. Yumi than let her face fall back into blanknss, stood straight, and left, leaving everyone whom had seen her expression unnerved.

Hitsugi ran out of the crowd of shinobi and shouted 'Hey! Yumi! Hang on a sec!' as she sprinted to the loner. She was soon just outside her bubble, and not wanting to die or something, she stayed there as Yumi slowly turned around to meet her gaze. 'Great match!' Hitsugi complemented.

That's the usual Hitsugi for you, Mirasake thought from where she sat around the action next to some of her other friends.

Yumi narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Seeing the meaningful look in her face, Yumi replied, 'Aye, no one has gone that long in a match against me ever before. You are strong.' There were gasps from all around.

'I…Is that a… Was that a complement?!' Hitsugi asked in astonishment. It seemed impossible that she, YUMI, would actually give a compliment! She wasn't the only one that thought this, to tell you the truth. Whispers and stares were everywhere as people changed this girl's outlook on Hitsugi.

'No. That was a warning.' Yumi turned and left a freaked-out and irritated Hitsugi staring after her.

* * *

Just wanted to let you know that the cuteness jutsu, very real. Can only be performed by my friend and it literally does make my eyes start to water form the face. So be ware!


	5. The Cursed One'

This one was easy to post since I already had it done for a while now. I think this chapter palys a really good role in the understanding of Yumi's hharsh childhood.

Enjoy!

* * *

For some reason, Yumi was curious about class the next day as she walked past one of the training grounds around town. That always happened after she had seen someone fight. Now, that she knew their strengths and weaknesses, she felt a little bit more comfortable around them. You couldn't really blame her. She had been socially deprived for basically 2 whole years(if the other 5 years of solitude from everyone in her village didn't count), and where ever she went she had to run from since she always had to hide to keep her secret.

Yumi thought about the fight yesterday and about the fact that she and Hitsugi had been almost evenly matched. She thought this weird, but she was determined to find out her secret and find a flaw in it so that next time she could win. She hated ties. Probably since she had never been in the middle of one ever before. Not even when she was attending her own village's academy…

flash back (wwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!)

A small 3 year-old walked by the people on the sides of the dirt road that ran straight through the village and stopped about 2 feet outside the gates. The passers-by glanced at her cautiously as she just walked on by; no expression even tinted her face. She narrowed her eyes as the group of _normal_ kids stopped their game of ninja to stare at her and make warning remarks behind her back as though she couldn't hear them.

They probably didn't know she could hear them. It was a special trait that was only used by the Akuei clan. They could hear and see better then anyone alive, although hardly anyone in the village knew outside the closely-kept family.

'Father! Father! Where are you?' echoed her voice as she looked around the houses that were slightly cut off form the other side of the village. This side of town was only for the main-branch of the Akuei clan. Well, not by law, it's just that no one really wanted to have any thing to do with these odd people. Especially with their newest and youngest member, Yumi, did they not even care if she was alive or dead. To them it was the same. No, they would be happier if she was dead. That would mean that she and the 'thing' would be out of their lives forever.

Everyone knew her as 'that girl' or 'the cursed one'; sometimes the elders would refer to her as 'the bad luck child'. No one liked her, not even in her own clan. The only one she could count on was her father that she loved so dearly. He was the only one that even came close to understanding her pain. No one else knew what it was like, being all alone, no friendly family to visit, and no kind friends she could share her secrets with. Not even a mother to talk to.

That's right, no mother. Her mother died a few minutes after she had given birth to Yumi, so she never really knew her. Oddly enough, Yumi could still hear her mother's last words to her before she died. She heard them when she was asleep and when she was alone, reminding her of what her mother had told her to do for her.

'Yumi, my daughter, I want only one thing form you. I want you to dedicate your life to this wish. I want you to…'

'YUMI! There you are. I was starting to get worried.'

She was brought back to the cruel present as a familiar voice floated from behind her. 'I can take care of my self!' she said in self defense out of habit as she slowly turned to meet her father's face.

The man stood tall above her, slightly shocked at the remark that she had just barked at him. 'What?'

'I'm sorry, father. I didn't mean it.' Yumi said ashamed of her self, but not take her eyes of the man's face.

It was partially hidden behind long hair, his light eyes emphasized against his tanned skin. He usually had a harsh appearance on his sharp face. His pointy chin was one of the traits that was not unusual for the clan. Another was his untainted white hair that hung over his black village headband.

The one odd thing about this gene of white hair was that it seemed to have passed on to the other villagers. That persona supports the age-old tale that the village was just the Akuei clan until one of them brought an outsider into the boarders and married them. That person was of course never accepted as part of their family again. That's probably where the passed-down character of hating the clan had come form.

All of the people inside of the gates had white hair. Well, all except one, and you guessed it; that person was Yumi. Her hair was not white, but the complete opposite; black! This had never happened before in their village ever. No one had any idea how it happened, but they took it as another reason to hate her.

'Are you okay? You seem a bit … out of the ordinary.' Her father walked up to her and knelt down in front of her so that they were eye level.

'Sure, I guess. I was just wondering about classes.'

'Ah, yes. You will be graduating and going on your first mission soon! Congratulations!' he said as he stood back up and began the very short walk home, Yumi following behind him.

'Yeah, I am excited! But, I was just wondering…'

'Yes?' he asked as he looked down at her with a slight smile as they turned and entered their quite large house that I am not going to go into detail about quite yet.

'Well, I was noticing the other kids and … why do they get to graduate with other kids while I'm all by my self?' she asked sitting on the floor as she watched her father start on supper.

'Let's see. You are the only one in your class. I believe that is so because the think you are special.' His back was turned to her, a knife cutting vegetables in front of him.

'Yes, if you mean possessed, just like everyone else thinks.'

'No, no. That's not what I meant. I was talking about potential. I mean, you are as strong as your sensei (plural) want you to be, maybe even more. You're probably also wondering why you get to become a genin so soon also. Well, I think that it is for the same reason. They think that you are ready and that you are able to handle the much harder stuff now. You might not think so, but I sure do!'

'Arigato gazumasu, father! Arigato! I won't forget that!' she said excitedly as she raced up to her dad and wrapped her long arms around his waist.

end flash back (aww, come on!)

-If only I knew then what I know now…- Yumi thought as she unconsciously headed in the direction of the academy for the day's lessons.

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Please review and tell me what you think!


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